What do acid-free, photo-safe and archival-quality mean?
In order for your albums to last for generations, they need to be free of damaging agents such as acid, lignin and other items that cause damage to pictures. Do you remember those old magnetic photo albums with a plastic sheet that peels back to expose pre-glued pages? You may notice now that those little lines of glue are yellow and that your pictures are discolored or partially disintegrated. Acid is the culprit! Acid is used to pull apart the wood fibers when manufacturing paper. If acid remains in the finished paper product, your pictures will begin to disintegrate. All materials used in a scrapbook should be “acid-free”, which means they have a pH factor of 7 to 8.5. Lignin is what holds wood fibers together in a tree. It is also found in some paper, mostly newspaper. Newspaper turns yellow due to the high lignin content. Products labeled “acid-free”, “photo-safe” or “archival-quality” have been tested by their manufacturers to ensure that the products are safe for scrapbooks. The
